The Sixers basically have nothing left to prove at this point. They're
16-6, they've won against good teams, they've blown out bad teams, and
they even got that Statement Win they'd long been searching for two
nights ago against Chicago. All that's left to do now is to keep on
keeping on—beating the teams below them, and measuring up to the teams
above them. And the one team, at least in the East, that's still well
above them—though their records are identical—is the Miami Heat.

It's not so much that the Heat have the Sixers number...it's just
that they consistently prove to be better. When they're executing and
shooting the way they did when the two teams met a few Saturdays back, a
113-92 loss, it's hard to imagine any NBA team of the 21st century
beating them, let alone a still up-and-coming Sixers squad. But then
again, since then, the Heat have lost twice to the Milwaukee Bucks—a
sub-.500 team missing one of their lineup cornerstones in Andrew
Bogut—proving that, in the right set of circumstances, they are an
imminently beatable team.

What those circumstances are remains somewhat beyond me, since it
took a miracle Lou Williams three to get the Sixers their one win in the
nine times the two teams have faced off since the Big Three era
commenced. But if the team that held Chicago to 55 points through three
quarters shows up tonight, they should at least have a chance—though
man, would it have helped to get back Spencer Hawes, who looks to be out
yet again, for this one. Perhaps at least we'll actually see some of
Nik Vucevic tonight, who had some success in his minutes against the
Heat in the first matchup—after all, we can't ride Lavoy Allen's hot
streak forever. (Can we?)

7:00 tip from the WFC. And while you're watching, maybe keep an eye
on Boston-New York on ESPN, a matchup between two enigmatic first-half
flops, both of whom are gonna have a hell of a time trying to catch up
to the Sixers in the Atlantic Division this year. Keep playing like
this, Philly could be supplanting both on that national schedule soon
enough.